Molly Smitten-Downes

Molly Alice Smitten-Downes (born 2 April 1987), known by her mononym Molly, is a British singer-songwriter.

Molly Smitten-Downes
Molly Smitten-Downes (2014)
Background information
Birth nameMolly Alice Smitten-Downes[1]
Born (1987-04-02) 2 April 1987
Anstey, Leicestershire, England, UK[2]
GenresFolk, pop[3]
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
InstrumentsVocals, piano
Years active2008–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websitewww.officialmolly.com

Early life

Born in Anstey, Leicestershire,[4] Molly grew up in Rothley and attended Our Lady's Convent School in Loughborough. She began starring in stage productions from the age of eight. She studied music at Leicester College and at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey,[5] and is an accomplished pianist.

Career

2005–10: Stunt

Molly was a member of the British dance music project Stunt, who achieved chart success in 2008 with their collaboration mashup track "Raindrops (Encore une fois)" with Sash!, combining songs "Raindrops" (2006) and "Encore une fois" (1997). In 2009, Smitten-Downes teamed with Swedish producer and singer/songwriter Basshunter, for the collaboration "I Will Learn to Love Again", which is featured on his second UK album Bass Generation.[6]

2011–13: Career beginnings

An acoustic EP Fly Away with Me was released on 18 December 2011.[7] EP track "Shadows" was sampled by grime artist Marger and has been released on iTunes through 360 Records (21 August 2011).[8] "Beneath The Lights", her collaboration with Swedish producer Anders Hansson, was released in April 2013 with Anders' project Dream Beats.[9][10] "Never Forget", her collaboration with producer Darren Styles, was written and recorded in 2012.[11]

2014: Eurovision Song Contest
Main article: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

After being supported and later put forward by BBC Introducing, Molly was approached by Guy Freeman, the executive producer and head of delegation of Eurovision for the BBC and asked if she would like to compose an entry for that year's contest. After initially saying 'I'm so flattered, but it's not for me’ on the grounds that it was not 'suitable' to her creatively, eventually Smitten-Downes was convinced by the prospect of being able to perform a self-penned work on a global stage.

On 3 March 2014, the BBC announced that Molly would be representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Children of the Universe".[12][13][14] Molly wrote "Children of the Universe" herself and has described her ambition to write music that "breaks down political barriers".[15] Prior to the contest, Molly signed a record deal with Warner Music UK on 1 April 2014.[16] On 4 April, Molly announced that she would release her song "Children of the Universe" on 28 April 2014.[17] It was made available for digital download on iTunes from 15 April. The song was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden with a 28-piece orchestra and produced by Anders Hansson. The official video for the entry was released on YouTube on 23 April 2014.[18] The following day, Molly appeared on BBC Radio 1's Innuendo Bingo.[19] However at the Eurovision final on 10 May 2014, she was regarded as a front-runner and one of the favourites to win the show. Molly concluded the show performing last and the song was voted 17th (out of 26 entries) gaining 40 points.

2014–15: After Eurovision

On 5 June it was revealed that Molly would perform at the Glastonbury Festival on 27 June 2014.[20]

In 2015 she teamed up with German DJ and producer Zwette to make "Rush"[21] which was released by Spinnin' Records and remixed by Sam Feldt. In September 2015, Molly performed "Rush" with Sam Feldt at V Festival in Chelmsford. Kanye West's producer Hudson Mohawke sampled a remix of "Beneath the Lights" for "Shadows" from his album Lantern.[22]

Honours and awards

Molly was awarded in 2012 the Best Urban/Pop Act at Live and Unsigned and in 2013 won Best Song at the Best of British Unsigned Music Awards.[23] On 1 November 2014, she received an honorary award for her musical achievements at Leicester College where she completed a performing musician course in 2002.[24]

Discography

Extended plays
Title Album details
Fly Away with Me

Singles

As lead artist
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[25]		 AUT
[26]		 BEL
[27]		 DEN
[28]		 GER
[29]		 IRE
[30]		 SCO
[31]		 SWI
[32]
"Beneath the Lights"
(with Dream Beats)		 2013 –––––––— Non-album single
"Children of the Universe"[a] 2014 23631393794361563
"Lock Up Your Daughter"[b] ––––––––
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released.
Title Year Album
"Shadows"
(Marger featuring Molly)		 2011 Non-album singles
"Never Forget You"
(Darren Styles featuring Molly)		 2013
"Rush"
(Zwette featuring Molly)		 2015
"Breathe"
(Si Tew featuring Molly)
gollark: Sorry, phone keyboard.
gollark: This is *not" consistent.
gollark: But that stops potentially extant people from existing.
gollark: Sorry. Internet connection link failure.
gollark: Image recognition AI is probably close enough that you could autodetect any suspicious things for a human operator.

References

Notes
  1. ^ Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts. Added 50 position to actual Ultratip position.
  2. ^ Was released as a free download gift from the artist herself.[33]

Sources
  1. "Molly Smitten-Downes Discography at Discogs". Discogs.com.
  2. "Eurovision 2014: Molly Smitten-Downes, from Leicestershire, to represent UK in song contest". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  3. "Molly Smitten-Downes: Eurovision will be a challenge". BBC News. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  4. "Eurovision 2014: Leicestershire's Molly Smitten-Downes on why she's just got to deliver that killer vocal Archived 2 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine", Leicester Mercury, 10 March 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014
  5. "Former ACM student to represent UK in Eurovision Song Contest". GetSurrey.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  6. "Eurovision Song Contest: Little-known artist set to be UK's hopeful". BBC News. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  7. "iTunes – Music – Fly Away With Me – EP by Molly". Itunes.apple.com. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  8. MTV UK. "Fresh: Marger Feat. Molly – 'Shadows' | Mtv Uk". Mtv.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  9. "iTunes – Music – Beneath the Lights – Single by Molly & Dream Beats". Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  10. Joseph 'JP' Patterson. "Introducing blog: JP's Underground Tracks of The Month". BBC. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  11. "Free Music Videos, Video Interviews, Music Video News, Live Sessions and Clips". Nme.Com. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  12. "United Kingdom in the Eurovision 2014: It's Molly Smitten-Downes to Copenhagen".
  13. "Molly's song for the Eurovision 2014, presentation 3 March 2014".
  14. "Molly Smitten-Downes to represent the UK". eurovision.tv. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  15. "Molly Smitten-Downes: Eurovision will be a challenge". bbc.co.uk. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  16. "UK: Molly's album deal with Warner Music UK". esctoday.com. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  17. "Molly's Eurovision Song 'Children of the Universe' gets studio version". Digital Spy. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  18. "United Kingdom: Children of the universe clip released". esctoday.com. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  19. BBC Radio 1 (24 April 2014). "Innuendo Bingo with Eurovision Contestant Molly Smitten-Downes" – via YouTube.
  20. "MOLLY SMITTEN-DOWNES TO PERFORM AT GLASTONBURY 2014". 5 June 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  21. "Zwette ft. Molly* - Rush". Discogs.
  22. "Lantern - Hudson Mohawke - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  23. "BBC – Eurovision 2014 – Media centre". BBC. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  24. "Eurovision contestant Molly Smitten-Downes receives honorary award from Leicester College". Leicester Mercury. 31 October 2014. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  25. "Molly > UK Charts". Official Charts Company.
  26. Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Molly". Austrian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  27. Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Molly". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  28. Hung, Steffen. "Discography Molly". Danish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  29. Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Molly". German Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  30. Hung, Steffen. "Discography Molly". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  31. Peak positions for Singles in Scotland:
  32. Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Molly". Swiss Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  33. Mulhall, Garrett (23 October 2014). "UK : Watch Molly's 'Lock Up Your Daughters' and download free as her gift to you". eurovisionireland.net. Eurovision Ireland. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
Preceded by
Bonnie Tyler
with "Believe in Me"		 UK in the Eurovision Song Contest
2014		 Succeeded by
Electro Velvet
with "Still in Love with You"
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